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Christians outpace FEMA in aid to hurricane victims

By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times - Tuesday, September 12, 2017

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Faith-based groups — Christian nonprofits, specifically — have been busy bees of late, providing more aid to hurricane victims than even FEMA, the federal agency that’s supposed to swoop to the scenes of natural disasters, assess the situation and speed the recovery and rebuilding process.

Just goes to show: Where charity exists, government is not needed.

Look at this, from the Daily Caller: “Faith-based relief groups are responsible for providing nearly 80 percent of the aid delivered thus far to communities with homes devastated by the recent hurricanes.”

The piece cited USA Today, which ran a headline: “Faith groups provide the bulk of disaster recovery, in coordination with FEMA.”

Imagine that. When disaster strikes, it’s Americans — specifically, Americans of faith — who lend the quickest hands, who provide the most assistance.

As USA Today noted, the Seventh Day Adventists took charge of disbursing bottles of water, diapers, clothing and other material needs.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief sent out the after-disaster work crews to help with cleanup — which includes everything from pulling mud from homes to assisting victims file their claims forms to government and insurance entities. The Convoy of Hope helped feed the masses, arriving on scene in the south with trucks upon trucks of food, even before Irma hit. Samaritan’s Purse, the Rev. Franklin Graham’s organization, brought everything from food to chainsaws. Post-storm, the same group will help victims rebuild their homes.

And while FEMA is on scene, too, it’s the Christian groups and faith-based organizations who’ve taken the lead.

“FEMA, they have been a big blessing to us, they’re an assistance to us,” said Luther Harrison, vice president of North American Ministries at Samaritan’s Purse, in USA Today. “For Hurricane Irma, the majority of our equipment across the border and FEMA was instrumental in helping us clear that with customs and getting all the paperwork done.”

And perhaps most crucial to the cleanup is manpower — something the faith groups bring in droves. United Methodist, for example, has 20,000 or so trained volunteers around the nation, standing at the ready to serve as early responders. All they need is the call — all they need is to be activated — and they’re there.

There’s a critical point to note here, and it goes like this: Big Government types would have it believed that government, and only government, can save the citizens from disasters.

But before Big Government, there was the Citizenry.

And people who put God first, people who are committed to serving Jesus, people who are driven by a moral compass that comes from above, are the real doers and shakers and movers — the ones who see a need and respond. The Big Government types?

They see a need and dial their lawmaker — call for a committee hearing — petition for a study. It’s only after they navigate the hoops, and fill out the proper forms, they respond.

America’s greatness was, is and always will be rooted in the fact that our rights come from God, not government. With that, comes a responsibility — that we conduct ourselves on an individual basis as if we believe in God. Bluntly put, it’s what the founders believed; it’s how they envisioned a moral and limited government not just shaping, but staying around a while. Happily, it’s what a large portion of America’s population today still believes.

But let’s not miss the even bigger lesson that can be gleaned here. If you want to reel in government and curb the bureaucracy, you have to make the services government provides irrelevant. And the way to do that is provide them privately.

Government more or less doesn't address the problem....it is the problem. Christian and other charity organizations don't have miles of red tape and regulations to jump through. They just do it and get it done. Every government agency has so many rules and statutes that they have to adhere to that it's amazing that they can accomplish almost anything at all.

What is the lake of fire? What is it's purpose? Is the lake of fire eternal hell? Is there any hope of escape for those cast into this lake?http://bible-truths.com/lake1.html

Come on now, you guys are lying. It isn't those right wing Bible thumping hypocrites doing all the work, it is the "compassionate" social groups. You know, like the "ANTIFA Relief Organization" and "Atheists Helping the People They Claim to Love" and "Black Lives Matter - Hurricane Relief to the Black Community" and, let's not forget, "Homosexuals United to Love Storm Survivors Because 'Love Wins.'" I'm sure there are others, but I think everyone gets the picture about all these left wing organizations who claim love and that they do so much for humanity.

God uses everything to His Glory. I bet ol nick is just spitting at all the Christians helping people and showing that the demonic swamp critters are not only not necessary, but essentially a hindrance it getting things done.

Hopefully many eyes are opened to the truth and find their way to Christ.

President Trump is busting his ass to allow faith based groups to be treated like other groups and be reimbursed for their rescue aid.
It may be the law, but the .gov needs to be firmly guided in non discrimination against religious groups.

The .gov can handle bridges and big highways..etc. but they are, by necessity slow.
A church, with a few brothers and sisters can get what is needed, where is needed and fast.
Of course, the crooks and scamsters also are fast.
Sometimes the .gov works best when it gets out of the way.
SS
.

“Then the creatures of the high air answered to the battle, .., and the woods trembled and the wind sobbed telling them, the earth shook,; the witches of the valley, and the wolves of the forests, howled from every quarter and on every side of the armies, urging them against one another.”
― Lady Gregory, Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha De Danaan and the Fianna of Ireland

Absolutely true about Christian groups being the vanguard of relief, and I saw this firsthand while doing relief efforts in late 2005 after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf shore of Mississippi. Our church went to the Biloxi, MS area to help out with cleanup and recovery efforts in an area that was hard hit but got very little press coverage (New Orleans got most of the attention on the media). We and other Christian groups were really the ONLY people actually on the ground doing real, practical relief work. It was really great to witness cooperation between Christians who did not know each other before and had just met on site, as well as setting aside denominational differences to work together. It's a big part of what being a part of the body of Christ is about! Christians have been doing this sort of thing in various ways since the beginning of the church in the first century AD.

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